Today Queen Mary 2 travelled through the Suez Canal in Egypt, for our last segment in the Mediterranean Sea onwards to our last ports of call in Rome, Monte Carlo and Barcelona before we reach Southampton, to complete our round the world voyage on 19th April.

Our voyage through the Suez Canal started early at 3 am and before we woke up we had already travelled about 50 miles into the canal. The Suez Canal has a north and south transit and the convoy can be up to 50 ships at one time, there are 25 in our convoy today and we are at the front. The north and south convoys meet at Great Bitter Lake to pass each other, there are no locks on the Suez canal.

The canal was finished in 1869, after nearly 100,000 slaves died during its early construction and is today one of the world's most heavily used shipping lanes and the toll received is one of the largest contributors to the Egyptian income. Queen Mary 2 is expected to pay over $250,000 for its one way transit today to the Mediterranean.

On board we have become good friends with Terry, the assistant food and beverage manager, after all he is the one that is keeping us well fed and watered! Terry took us on a personal behind the scenes tour of the kitchen galley where all the food is prepared and cooked. He also arranged for us to go below decks. We were very privileged because this is not normally allowed to guests, but we wanted to see the print room and we had to go to the bottom of the ship under the water line to get to it. It was amazing to see all the stores and sleeping areas, the crew bar and galley on the way. It was like a small town in a ship underneath a big ship! Thank you Terry!